Light reflector



Ju ly s 1924 1,500,231

A.L coFFEY LIGHT REFLECTOR Filed y 5; 192a INVENTOR Alf/cg A. faffey Y w ATTORNEY Patented July 8, 1924.

UNITED- STATES ALFRED L. COFFEY, or SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

LIGHT REFLECTOR.

Application filed'lay'ti, 1923. Serial No. 636,975.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED- L. CorFEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of a Washin on, have invented a certain new a and use 111 Improvement in Light Reflectors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in light reflectors and the object of my invention is to provide a light reflector of a form that is particularly adapted to intercept rays of light from an exterior source and reflect said ra s oflight outwardly in a direction paralle to their direction of approach and to further provide a light reflector that is capable of changing the color of all of the reflected rays of light.

Another object istoprovide a light reflector having on its open front side a color screen, preferably of colored glass, and having a light reflecting'surface that is made of two intersecting conic sections, namely a conical portion and a truncated portion formed and arranged so that their angle of 2 intersection, measured in any plane that passes through their common axis, will be one hundred and fifty de rees whereby rays of light enterin said re ector from'an exterior source will always be reflected outwardly in a direction parallel to-their direction of approach thereby producing a perfeet and uniform color effect and preventing the formation of non-luminous or dead areas or circles in said reflector such as might occur if the reflecting surfaces were arranged at any other angle. a

A further object is to provide a reflector that is particularly adapted to be used as a warning or danger signal, as on the rear ends of vehicles or in dangerous locations along streets, highways, railroads, shore lines and the like.

Iaccomplish these objects by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic Referring to the drawings throughout which like reference numerals indicate like 1 parts, I have shown a light reflector formed of a conical portion 4 and a truncated portion- 5 arranged about a common axis A, A and intersecting each other in a plane B, B

at right angles to the axis A, A, the conical portion 4 and truncated portion 5 being fixed relative to each other.

The angle. of divergence of the-reflecting surface of the conical portion at measured in an axial plane is 120 degrees and the angle between the respective reflecting surfaces 01 the conical portion 4 and the truncated portion 5 measured in an axial plane is 150 degrees thus forming an angle of 90 degrees between the reflectlng surface of the conical portion 4 and the diametrically opposite reflectin'g surface of the truncated portion 5. Mounted at the front or open end of the truncated portion 5 is a co-axially arranged color screen preferably formed of an annular plate 6 of colored glass and a central disc-7 of white or noncolored glass, the diameter of the disc 7 being equal to the maximum diameter of the'conica-l reflector portion 4 and the annular plate 6 having a minimum or internal diameter equal to the minimum diameter of the truncated portion 5 and external diameter equal to or reater than the maximum diameter of sai truncated portion 5, the result of this arrangement being that rays of light traveling toward or away from the truncated portion 5 in directions parallel with the 90 axis A, A will, pass through the. colored annular plate 6 and similar rays moving toward or away from the conical portion 4 parallel with the axis A, A will always passthrough the clear central disc 7.

If desired the central disc 7 may' be colored glass and the annular front screen maybe formed of colored glass and the same color efi'ect produced or the entire front' screen may be formed of colored glass.

The length of the truncated portion 5 measured from front' to rear along the reflecting surface in any radial plane is the distance between the points where said truncated surface would be intersected by two straight lines drawn at an angle of-60 degrees from the extremities of a diametrically opposite portion of the conical reflecting surfacei. In practice the length of the reflecting surface of the truncated portion 5 is entering the reflectorjn drections substan tially parallel to the axis A, A and incident onthe truncated reflecting surface 5 at an angle. of 30 degrees will be refracted at an angle of 30 degrees, and will strike the conical reflecting surface 4 at a diametrically opposite point at an angle of 60 degrees and berefracted therefrom at an angle of 60. degrees in a direction parallel to their direction of approach and parallel to the axis- A, A; and, conversely rays of light entering in directions parallel to the axis A, A and incident at an angle of 60 degrees on the conical reflector 4 will be refracted therefrom at an angle of'60 degrees and will strike the truncated reflecting surface 5 at a diametrically opposite point at an angle of 30 degrees from which they will be refracted at an angle of 30 degrees in a direction parallel with their direction of approach and parallel with the axis A, A.

From the preceding description together with the accompanying drawings, in which paths along which the light rays may travel are indicated by broken lines, it will be seen that light rays entering through the annular glass 6 will always be reflected out through the disc 7 in lines parallel to their direction of approach and that light rays entering through the glass disc 7 will always be reflected outwardly through the annular glass 6 in directions parallel to their direction of approach, the light rays always passing through the colored screen either on entering or leaving the reflector and thereby being caused to take on the color of such screen, it being understood that, if desired, the central disc 7 may be colored and the an nular'plate 6 may be non-colored.

The reflector surfaces 4 and 5 may be formed of any material adapted for that purpose and may be mounted in any well known manner.

The two reflecting surfaces 5 and 4 being arranged so that they intersect each other at an angle of 150 degrees as hereinbefore described serve to reflect the rays of light out evenly and in a direction parallel to the direction of approach of said light rays thereby producing a uniform color effect and eliminating the dark or non-illuminated areas or rings such as are frequently observed in con-. nection with other reflectors.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings clearly disclose what I now consider to be a'preferred embodimentof my invention but it will be understood that this disclosure is merely illustrative and that such changes in the reflector may be made as are within the spirit of the invent1on.

What I claim is:

1. A reflector embodying a conical POI.- tion having a concave li ht reflecting surface forming an angle 0 60 degrees with respect to its axis and a portion of truncated shape disposed in axial alignment with said conical portion and having reflecting surfaces forming an angle of 30 degrees with respect to said axis and intersecting the reflecting surfaces of said conical portion at an angle of 150 degrees.

2. A light reflector embodyin a concave conical reflecting surface, a re ecting surface of truncated cone shape coaxial with said conical reflecting surface and intersecting the same at an angle of 150 degrees and a colored light screen extending across the open front end of said light reflector.

3. A light reflector embodyin a concave conical reflecting surface, a re ecting surface of truncated cone shape coaxial with said conical reflecting surface and intersecting the same at an angle of 150 degrees, and

a light screen extending across the 0 en front end of said light reflector and having a colored portion in front of one of said reflecting surfaces and a non-colored portion in front of the other of said reflecting surfaces.

In witness whereoffI hereunto subscribe my name this 25th day of April, A. D. 1923.

ALFRED L. corner- 

